Already 100 cars and 35 trucks entered the Silk Way Rally 2012

One month before the closure of entries, the Silk Way Rally attracts numerous competitors. The quality of the field is getting higher and higher every day, mixing amateurs and professionals! Next

This entouthiasm is commented by Frédéric Lequien, Deputy Director of the event:

How do you analyse these first results?
They are good! This is a nice reward for all the work that has been carried out for a few months… It’s our job now not to deceive the competitors who have trusted us… You know, we really have prepared a great rally, completely in the spirit of rally-raid, a renewed route with a lot of sand and the bivouacs will once more astonish more than one!
Friendliness and comfort will be honored!

A piece of advice for future participants?
Yes, they must arrive well prepared! They will be racing more than 2.000 km of special stages in 6 days, which is a lot, competitors must be ambitious on the Silk Way! This event will benefit from a wide media coverage, which gives them the unique opportunity to be seen, to show their partners.

After the presentation of the route last month, the reconnaissance of the event will begin in a few days. A vital stage because it will help to finalize the road book, which is an essential element both in terms of performance and safety. To help the vastly experienced Stéphane Le Bail, the organisers have called upon three-time Dakar winner and victor of the Paris-Moscow-Beijing: Frenchman Pierre Lartigue. Next….

«As I know Russia very well, due to a few race victories of course, but also for having worked alongside the Kamaz team, I was asked to participate in the reconnaissance of the first editions of the SWR, but in the end it wasn’t possible”, says Pierre Lartigue. “When I was contacted by Semen Yakubov and Fred Lequien, I immediately said yes! First off, because I adore this country, which always offers a lot of variety with sand and fast and technical sections…it is the dream of all rally-raid drivers, it is a privilege to be the first one to drive on it…”

«Stéphane and I have been the first ones in the stages of all the rounds of the World Cup, so we are used to working together and we are very complimentary when it comes to having a feeling for the terrain”, answers the quadruple Rally Raid World Cup champion. “Each one of us discovers the pitfalls in his own way. He as the navigator and I as the driver and we add our opinions so that the road book corresponds exactly to what the competitors will actually encounter….and we want the road book to be perfect, because we need to insure the safety of the competitors whether they are the leaders or the laggards. And, although it is not the case everywhere, I, myself, do not want to make any compromises when it comes to safety” concludes Pierre Lartigue who received the French legion of Honour in 1997.

“Everyone does their job at 200% and everyone is heading in the same direction. In fact, all of this takes place in an atmosphere of frank camaraderie, while remaining ultra-professional. The organisers know what they have to do in order for their race to be perfect, but they remain very open-minded about our remarks…to be honest, I have already rediscovered the rally-raid atmosphere from years gone by that is sadly missing these days: professionalism on the tracks but the relaxed ambiance and fantastic greeting once you exit the car”